NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya’s Philemon Rono is dreaming of representing
Kenya at the 2019 World Championships in Qatar when he lines up
to compete at the Toronto marathon on Sunday.

Rono, 27, set a
Canadian all-comers’ record of 2:06:52 when he successfully
defended his Toronto Marathon title a year ago.

He returns on Sunday
in search of a hat trick victories in a bid to seal his spot in
the Kenya team to Doha, next year for the World Championships.

“I always want to
run for Kenya,” he said on Saturday. “But competitions for
tickets to World Championships are stiff and I believe when I
win in Toronto, Kenyan selectors will look my way and offer me a
chance to live the dream.”

Injury rules two
Kenyans out of Delhi Half Marathon

The women’s favorite
Kenya’s Caroline Kipkirui has also been forced to pull out
citing a foot injury.

Kiptanui, who is the
fastest half marathoner in the world this year, recently
sustained a slight injury in training and is not back to full
fitness.

“It’s a blow to my
preparations because I had hoped to continue my big
performance,” said Kiptanui on Friday. “I have to bite my time
and wait for it to fully heal.”

It is the second
race for the Kenyan to skip after he was no show at the
Copenhagen Half Marathon last month.

However, Kenya will
still have a strong representation in India’s premier road race,
which has a winner’s prize set at 27,000 U.S. dollars with a
total prize money purse standing at 280,000 dollars.

Kenya will have its
hopes on world half marathon record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei,
who will take the fight to Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of
Ethiopia.

The two women will
go head to head for the course record, which has been standing
since 2009 and it belongs to Kenya’s Mary Keitany at 1:06.54.

Jepkosgei and Dibaba
have met twice before.

Firstly, at last
year’s Ras al Khaimah Half Marathon in United Arab Emirates
where Jepkosgei finished third and the Ethiopian legend was
fifth.

The second time the
two clashed was in May at the Manchester 10km in Britain when
Dibaba got the upper hand with a convincing win - 31:08 to 31:57
- with the Kenyan runner in second place.

“The Delhi Half
Marathon is my first-ever trip to India and so I am very much
looking forward to visiting and also competing against, once
again, Tirunesh Dibaba as well as the rest of the field of
accomplished and confident women,” said Jepkosgei.

Jepkosgei set a
world half marathon best of 1:04:52 in Prague in April, 2017 and
improved it by one second to 1:04:51 in Valencia.

“My training has
gone on well. There is nothing much I have changed during my
training and I’m looking forward to the race where I want to
lower the record, even by a second,” said Jepkosgei.

The men’s field will
have Kenyans Alex Korio (58:51) and Daniel Kipchumba (59:06),
Ethiopians Leul Gebresilase (59:18) and Feyisa Lilesa (59:22),
New Zealand’s Zane Robertson 59:47 and last year’s runner-up
Andamlak Belihu from Ethiopia (59:51) and last year’s
third-placer Leonard Korir from the United States (59:52).

Olympic 5,000m
bronze medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet is sick and will not compete in
India.

.

Ankle injury rules
out Chemutai from Valencia Half Marathon

By John Kwoba NAIROBI (Xinhua) --Kenya’s Fancy Chemutai has confirmed she will not
be fit to compete at the Valencia Half marathon in Spain on Oct.
28.

Speaking from
Eldoret, Chemutai said an ankle injury she sustained in February
on her way to winning the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon in
United Arab Emirates (UAE), is healed but her fitness is still
under 50 per cent.

“I cannot run at the
top level,” she said on Friday. “I still need a month to get
back to top form and then we will see which race to take part
in. My management had entered me in the Valencia Half marathon,
but I have to say I will not be traveling.”

Chemutai failed to
honor Kenya team call to the World Half Marathon in March over
the injury and has remained out of competition since.

“I have missed my
program because the injury delayed to heal,” she added. “But I
have started training and can run about 10km. But soon I will be
at my peak form again and I want to go back to Valencia in 2019
and try to break the world record.”

Indeed compatriot
Joyciline Jepkosgei took one second off her own world record,
which she had set in Prague, the Czech Republic in April 2017,
to win the in Valencia clocking 64:51. In UAE, Chemutai, 23,
clocked 64.52 to miss the record by one second.

“The injury has put
a big challenge in my path and I have to overcome it. I am
returning to full training and still hungry to win more titles,”
she added.

In her absence in
Valencia, Kenya team will be led by Mary Wacera, who is also
returning from injury together with Lucy Cheruiyot while Dorcas
Tuitoek will be making her debut in the distance. Ethiopia’s
challenge will come from Gelete Burka.

In the men’s
category, defending champion Kenyan-born Abraham Cheroben of
Bahrain will battle it out with other 30 elite athletes, with at
least 14 having run in less than an hour. Cheroben is aiming to
retain the crown he won last year in 59:11.

Among the elite
field is a host of Kenyans led by two times Family Bank Half
Marathon champion Jorum Okombo Lumbasi (58:48), Solomon Kirwa
Yego (58:44), Mangata Ndiwa (59:09), Abraham Kiptum (59:09) and
Josphat Boit (59:19) the pace maker, who guided Olympic marathon
champion Eliud Kipchoge to break the world marathon record in
Berlin.